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Contact The Beaney Art Museum and Library

Telephone

Contact The Beaney Art Museum and Library

01227 862162

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

The Beaney is an art museum and library situated in the heart of the historic city of Canterbury.

Venue Type:

Museum, Gallery, Library

Opening hours

Museum, Tourist information and Café opening hours:Monday to Wednesday 9am to 5pmThursday 9am to 7pmFriday and Saturday 9am to 5pmSunday 10am to 5pm

Free entry to the building. Charges may apply for some special events and exhibitions. See our website for full details.

Getting there

Located in Canterbury high street adjacent to Best Lane.

Collection details

Archives, Weapons and War

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

The Essence of Memory - A Distillation of Thought

14 February — 8 March 2015 *on now

Holder and Lamoon present ‘The Essence of Memory - A Distillation of Thought’, an exhibition. This is the culmination of their 2014 Beaney Armchair Artists in Residence. It will be intriguing, fascinating, moving, sometimes humorous and sometimes disturbing.

Some of the works involved an element of Beaney visitor participation. Read their blogs to find out about their journey through the Beaney collection.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

Letting in the Light: Ben Sands, a retrospective

Ben Sands was born in 1920, at a time when modern wood engraving was undergoing a renaissance and artists started fine art engraving for private press and other high precision work.

The title of the exhibition comes from a phrase coined by Ben himself in an interview in 2003 describing the act of cutting into a block of wood:

"...automatically, with practice, your mind sees that block as a field of solid black.... when you start cutting you start letting the light into the block and revealing the world which ultimately you are going to present to the public. Because you are letting light in all the time, every cut you make lets another streak of light in…"

Ben had a very thorough apprenticeship in the 1930s: between the ages of 14 and 17 he attended Willesden School of Art, where he received a rigorous education in drawing from still life, composition (placing his subjects in relation to the frame), craft and design, and illustration. Ben was given his first wood-block to work on while still at Willesden in the 1930s – he reckons he made a terrible mess of it! Later, he was strongly influenced by an exhibition of Chinese wood engraving in London.Years later, after serving in the Second World War, he decided to take up wood engraving and enrolled at Central School of Art, finding his 3 years at Willesden still stood him in good stead.

His work extended into hand-printed books at his Shoestring Press, which moved with him to Whitstable in 1960. He is a member of the Society of Wood Engravers and exhibited with them for many years.

This exhibition of Ben’s work will give his many fans the opportunity to see and celebrate the perception and humour in his distinctive style, and the chance to buy some of the prints.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

Animal Magic – a celebration of birds, beasts and bugs!

11 April — 4 May 2015

An exhibition celebrating birds, animals and insects, in the wild or as pets, real or imagined, by artists and photographers living or working in Kent.

Ahead of the exhibition The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge is inviting submissions from Kent based 2D artists and photographers to be part of the upcoming exhibition Animal Magic - a selling show celebrating birds, animals and insects, in the wild or as pets, real or imagined.

Work will be selected from submissions that explore this interesting topic. We welcome a wide-ranging interpretation of the theme!

To submit work please download the application form here: http://www.canterbury.co.uk/Beaney/explore/Artist-Opportunities.aspx

Applications close: 8am on Monday 02 March 2015

Suitable for

Any age

Admission

Free

Website

Canterbury in the age of the Magna Carta

5 June — 6 September 2015

To celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge will be opening a new exhibition “Canterbury in the Age of the Magna Carta”, which will run from 5 June to 6 September 2015. The exhibition will focus on Canterbury residents stories and lives during the age of Magna Carta and will include the Canterbury Cathedral copy of an original Magna Carta transcribed into the Priory register.

Website

Canterbury in the Age of the Magna Carta

2015 marks the 800th anniversary of the sealing of one of the world’s greatest agreements, the Magna Carta.

On the 15th June 1215, on the banks of the River Thames, the Magna Carta was sealed under oath by King John.

It was the first document imposed upon a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and to protect their rights. The charter is widely regarded as an important part of the protracted historical process which led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond.

As the core of religious life in England, Canterbury played a significant part in the making of this historical document. Eight years prior to its signing Stephen Langton ascended to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury and soon became an implacable opponent of King John. Langton joined with rebellious barons and other bishops to limit royal powers, bringing Church-state tensions to a head. This led directly to the showdown that produced the Magna Carta.

Langton’s input to the charter is emphasised by the final clause, which protects the freedom, rights and liberties of the English Church.

To celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge will be opening a new exhibition “Canterbury in the Age of the Magna Carta”, which will run from 6 June to 6 September 2015. The exhibition will focus on Canterbury residents stories and lives during the age of Magna Carta and will include the Canterbury Cathedral copy of an original Magna Carta transcribed into the Priory register.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

Events details are listed below. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all. For events that don't have a specific date see the 'Resources' tab above.

Workshop, club or activity

Create a Remembrance Poppy

20 January — 29 March 2015 *on now

Create a special poppy and/or postcard in honour of a local soldier, sailor or airman who died upstairs in the Collectors and Explorers Gallery. Dedicate it to their memory, and add it to the Beaney Garden of Remembrance in the Front Room Gallery.

Suitable for

Any age

Admission

£0.50 to cover the cost of materials

Event

Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts: The many adventures of Enid Blyton

31 January — 19 April 2015 *on now

Mystery, Magic and Midnight Feasts is designed to be playful, interactive and immersive, for young audiences to enjoy. Children are invited to throw themselves into the worlds of the Famous Five and Secret Seven, Malory Towers, Magic Faraway Tree and Noddy’s Toyland. Many exhibits will be on public display for the first time, revealing Blyton's creative imagination and the events that shaped her life and storytelling.

Seven Stories fundraised to buy a large collection of Blyton typescripts and rare artefacts when they were auctioned in 2010, fulfilling its mission to save and protect Britain’s literary heritage for children. Many items from the Seven Stories and Enid Blyton Society collections will be on show including:

Enid Blyton’s original hand corrected typescripts including Five have Plenty of Fun (1954), Last Term at Malory Towers (1951), Look Out, Secret Seven (1962) and Cheer Up, Little Noddy (1960)Enid Blyton’s personal and nature diaries spanning the 1920s, 1930s and 1960sHarmsen van der Beek's first Noddy illustration (1949) and letter to Enid BlytonPersonal family photographs including Enid as a childEnid Blyton’s famous typewriter.

The exhibition is bound to stimulate interest from generations of Enid Blyton fans. Her contribution to children's literature is beyond doubt. At the height of her 40 year career, from 1951 to 1954, she produced 192 books - an average of one a week. Blyton's books, which were often serialised, captivated children in the same way that Harry Potter has in recent times.

This enthralling exhibition, the first celebrating the life and work of Enid Blyton has been created by Seven Stories, National Centre for Children's Books.

Suitable for

Any age

Admission

Pay what you can: Instead of charging admission we are asking you to Pay What You Can. Your contribution will help us continue programming special exhibitions at the Beaney.

Website

Kent Association for the Blind Portrait Exhibition

14 March — 6 April 2015

KAB presents a photography exhibition portraying inspirational local people living with sight impairment with moving life stories that we hope will challenge people’s ideas of what it means to live with sight loss.

KAB is a registered charity supporting sight impaired people to live independent lives in Kent, Medway and Bromley. The exhibition aims to raise awareness of the many forms of and causes of sight loss, the challenges sight impaired people face and how with help and support they can overcome these and achieve independence.

The striking portraits are accompanied by the inspirational stories of people living with sight loss who are part of the local community, explaining how the individual has overcome the challenges of their impairment and achieved their goals; whether it be tending to their garden or winning a gold medal, each story holds its own motivational merit.